City eyes future projects

Published 8:07 am, Saturday, August 23, 2014

While the bulk of Monday’s meeting pertained to the budget, city commissioners also dealt had other items to address.

The approved the plan for a plat for the Southwind addition, which is just south of the city limits but within its extraterritorial jurisdiction.

“We are allowed to look at and have some say within that area to control what’s going around our potential development area,” said Danny Cornelius, city code enforcement officer. “The development will include one-acre tracts with well and septic, as well as a developer’s agreement of what our expectations are for being up to our codes.”

The addition would be done by Larry Whilhite, also a partner in the Canyon East project.

“I commend those who are looking at building within it that extraterritorial jurisdiction,” said Mayor Quinn Alexander.

Commissioners asked about the lack of alleys in the development.

“Typically, in the past, we required alleys. We’ve had a discussion about it, and the alleys are a real maintenance problem. They try to put recycled asphalt in those alleys, and the price continues to rise. There are definitely pros and cons to alleys, but particularly from a public works standpoint, it’s a good tradeoff not to have alleys. I think that’s really the trend,” Cornelius said.

Randy Criswell, city manager, said that having a new development install paved alleys would increase the cost by about 30 percent.

“Ultimately, as the area ages, that paving has to be repaired and that repair is on the taxpayers’ bill,” Criswell said. “Alleys are where junk gets stacked up. Plus, there is no nuisance of weeds in alleys, and there aren’t people working without a permit on water or sewer mains. The only real trade off is you have to look at utilities out front and trash is collected one house at a time as opposed to a Dumpster, which typically serves four families.”

Commissioner David Logan said he liked the plans.

“I have an alley, and it’s an area for everyone to use but no one to maintain. I think I like not having alleys,” he said.

Alexander commented that he believes the new development will be a welcome addition.

“Larry has a lot of experience, and we’ve had an opportunity to see his work before and been very pleased,” Alexander said.

Commissioners also approved to allow the city to be considered for a feasibility study by the U.S. Corps of Engineers concerning Palo Duro Creek.

Criswell said the project was first conceived in the mid-2000s when the Palo Duro Creek Restoration Foundation was founded.

“They are the entity that contacted the U.S. Corps of Engineers in efforts to prevent a repeat of the 1978 flood. That would be what we call a Section 205 project, which there was a moratorium on at the time. A member of the foundation, Diana Cox, found a grant that would pay for full planning study, so the city, Randall County, Canyon Economic Development Corporation and the water board pulled resources to pay $300,000 do a study over four years. It was not a Section 205 study and it went beyond the scope of the creek,” Criswell said. “When they finished that that study, they provided us with a lot of good information but it still didn’t answer the original questions.”

Criswell recently received a phone call from the U.S. Corps of Engineers asking if the city was still interested in a Section 205 study.

“How it would work is that we’d submit a letter of interest, and then the city’s name would go into a hat. The Corps would screen through the projects. I’m sure from an engineering standpoint the ones selected will be those with the greatest losses from flooding. If we would be selected, the Corps would do a study for up to $100,000. Should the creek then be selected for a project, the city would be responsible for 35 percent of that cost with at least 10 percent being cash,” he said.

“There is no commitment of any kind. At any point we can walk away - even during feasibility study. There is absolutely no financial obligation at this point to the city. The only thing to consider tonight is if we want the city’s name under consideration for a Section 205 study.”

Danny Cornelius, city code enforcement officer, said that over the last 35 years there have been about 35 claims on 13 homes in the floodplain.

“Those are all after 1978 and not necessarily a result of creek flooding but rather from drainage from the street,” he said.

“Mitigation efforts of the creek wouldn’t necessarily stop the flooding issue because is not from the creek but from the drainage of streets at a higher elevation.”

Criswell said that the previous study was not a Section 205 study, and outline a flood model but provided no solutions.

“This Section 205 study is what the foundation wanted to do to begin with, but it’s just that. It’s a Section 205 study, and is not a beatification project,” he said. “It’s about flooding.”

Commissioners all agreed to move forward with by submitting a letter of interest.

“I don’t know why we wouldn’t move forward with it,” said Commissioner Gary Hinders. “I think that’s what we wanted to do to begin with, and there’s no or very little cost to it.”